The Rose Gem
by Tayeko
Summary: 1 year after AC... A new world power, the IronClad Organization, is rising fast with lethal power, posing an incredible threat to the ShinRa Corp, which has vowed to operate now without corruption. ShinRa knows the whereabouts of a powerful ancient
1. Prolouge Naku

The Rose Gem...

A year after Advent Chilren... A new world power, the IronClad Organization, is rising fast with lethal power, posing an incredible threat to the Shin-Ra corporation which has vowed to operate now without corruption. Shin-Ra knows the whereabouts of a powerful ancient Gem... one that IronClad is desperate to get their hands on. Their intentions are not pure... and the results could rock the Planet with devastating results...

Author's Note: This is a collaboration fanfic between myself, Naku and XinShi Sosend them some feedback too! Chapters will be flagged with the Author's name.

If you've read Breathe, you'll be familiar with Tayeko... by the way, this is not a self insertion fic by the authors... these characters were created for an RP and the names just stuck.. heh)

Please Review!

Disclaimer: Yeah, we don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its entities... sigh

Chapter One

(Naku)

" Right away, Sir." A rather tall young man with short cropped brown hair and intense, steely blue eyes. He accepted a manila folder from one of his superiors, a very obese man who had a nasty temper, and a next to incomprehensible speaking voice. The man yelled something at the young man, but he promptly ignored it, not even able to understand what he had said.

" Probably muffled under all the layers of fat…" The man thought to himself. That made him smile, revealing teeth that were white and clean, but in need of correctional surgery, the pearly whites being slightly out of line.

He opened a door to his office, and shut it behind him, the name on the door reading, ' Nadec R.' He plopped down onto his seat, expelling a sigh as he did so. It had been along day, he still had more to do. He threw the folder into the trash. It was of great importance to his tubby superior, but Nadec did not care. He wouldn't be around for long anyways. He grinned again.

" Finally… After all this time I get to make my move," Nadec whispered to himself. He logged onto his computer and was welcomed to the main screen, with the Shin-Ra logo emblazoned on the background of his desktop. He was Nadec Reklin, just one of the many white-collar office workers lucky enough to get his own office. However, he was also another thing inside the massive tower in the middle of Midgar Shin-Ra called home. He was a sleeper.

Not the kind of man who slept on the job, but the kind of man who was inserted into Shin-Ra many years ago by an unknown faction. He was ordered to do his job… Become a trusted employee, hopefully rise in the ranks enough to be allowed a little wiggle room should he make a mistake, and wait. After seven years, he finally got the signal to awaken. The signal was actually an item. He had been ecstatic to finally receive from the mail cart to his office. He was finally getting out of this hellhole.

The item was a black microchip. He locked his office door and took a screwdriver from his desk. He placed his computer tower on top of his desk and started to unscrew the casing. Once that was removed, he found an empty data port, and inserted the microchip. He screwed the casing back into place and hooked up his computer again. He flicked it on and awaited the results with baited breath.

The program booted back up, and several icons placed themselves on Nadec's desktop. Nadec realized he had been holding his breath and he exhaled excitedly. He clicked onto on of the icons titled, " Icebreaker". A screen full of computer code greeted him. This was the code to hack into Shin-Ra's computer network. He delved in… He had all the power that Old Man Shinra to access these files. He dodged ones entitled Cetra, or Sephiroth. He found what he was looking for soon enough. A small folder, barely noticeable, named, " Rose Gem". He grinned and picked up his coffee cup. It sloshed as the liquid inside met the lid on top of the steel cylinder. The bottom of it was black, and unknown to security, had lead filament all around it, to hide the contents of the false-bottom to the X-ray machines Nadec had to go through every time he entered the building.

He unscrewed the bottom and a black emulator fell out. He plugged it into the USB port on his computer, and copied the Rose Gem file to the data device. After breaking into Shin-Ra's system so easily, Nadec decided to have a little fun. He erased a couple of lesser files that regarded to weapons development and other menial things like that. Then he closed the intrusion software program before any of the hacker hounds figured out he was inside the system. Shin-Ra was notorious for having a grade-A tech team.

He placed the emulator back inside the false bottom of the coffee cup. Making sure it was secure he stood up from his chair and took one last look around his office. For seven years, he had endured torturous amounts of work from the fat man, and other high-ranking Shin-Ra pigs. He looked to the walls. They had been barren when he first arrived… Whitewashed and still smelling of a recent chemical cleansing. In fact his office still smelled like it. He had a plain oak desk, three drawers, and a surprisingly comfortable black leather computer chair. He wrinkled his nose. The place had practically been his home with al the work he had to do.

But now… He got to leave. He leaned over the computer keyboard. He wanted to do one last thing before he escaped. He clicked onto another icon, on whose picture showed a red caterpillar. He delved back into the system, this time searching along the network, not into the files. He found his fat boss' computer. He smiled as he inserted the code into one of the fat man's files. In five hours… His hard drive would be gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. He closed that window and this time clicked on a third icon. A pop up message box appeared. He clicked 'ok'.

There was small puff of smoke and a muffled _wumpf_ as the microchip he installed in his computer self-destructed. He opened his door, and left his office for the last time. He made his way towards the elevator and stepped inside. Inside was a mean looking little boy.

" Great… so Old Man Shinra brought his son to work again…." Nadec thought to himself as Rufus Shinra glared at him. He was only seven years old, but already he had the same fiery intensity that his father used to intimidate the 'lesser' people.

It was a long elevator ride down, and quite an awkward one at that. The elevator stopped on the floor before the lobby and Rufus stepped out, but not before turning to Nadec and saying, " You smell like bleach."

Nadec silently thanked his office for the smell it had endowed on him. The elevator landed on the ground floor and Nadec proceeded through the security. A guard smiled at him while taking his coffee cup and briefcase.

" Leavin' early today?" He asked, making a little small talk.

Nadec smiled back. " Yea, sometimes I just can't tell if I'm workin' hard or hardly workin'." Nadec replied to him as his briefcase and cup were returned to him.

The guard chuckled at stupid overused joke. Nadec didn't care. He was in the clear now. He left Shin-Ra Tower for the last time, back to his rendezvous.

Hours later, Nadec tapped his coffee cup impatiently onto the table of a café. His contact was supposed to be there in…There! He walked into the room. A man that was shorter than him by inches strode to the table and sat down across from him. He had blonde hair and a relaxed, tanned face.

" Thank you so much for finally awakening me. I found it… The file. Please… please accept me into the Black Hand!" Nadec said quietly… He had never begged in his life, but in the presence of a member of the Black Hand, the elite superiors of IronClad, Nadec was ready to grovel.

The man's face tensed and he narrowed his eyes. " Don't piss yourself. Your work will not go unnoticed. Hand over the data, and you can get out of here. We will contact you later."

Nadec unscrewed the bottom of the cap and handed it to his contact. He stumbled a little over his words in his excitement, but still managed to get his words out.

" Thank you so much Kinden…Thank you!" Nadec truly was grateful… This man had delivered him from hell. But a second later, when Kinden's hand flashed across Nadec's face in a hard smack that sent him reeling to the floor, he wondered if he had just leapt into the fire.

Kinden's eyes narrowed and he hissed in anger. " Never… Say…My…Name."

Nadec nodded weakly as people stared at the outbreak. Kinden got up and left before any more commotion could be caused. Nadec whimpered slightly at the stinging sensation at his cheek but sucked it up. He seemed to come out of a fog, and was ashamed of himself for losing his composure like that in public. He lifted himself off the ground and grabbed up his coffee cup before leaving the café.


	2. Chapter 1 Tay

**Chapter One**

Rufus Shin-Ra was staring out at Midgar and Edge through his picture window, his elbows resting on the wide, padded armrests of his high backed leather manager's chair, his hands steeped in front of him.

He gave a long sigh. Construction on repairs to Midgar from Meteor were almost complete... Only sector eight had yet to be completed. People were moving out of Edge and back into the rebuilt Midgar... Rufus found Edge was more useful now as a military base, and stationed SOLDIER and the rest of the Shin-Ra army out there. The Mako reactors had been shut down, of course, but Rufus Shin-Ra wasn't giving up easily. With the help of Reeve and his World Restoration Organization, they had come up with the idea of Hydro power...All eight reactors were converted over to hydro plants, with the help of large pipes from the ocean to the city. Water was filtered and broken down to its purest possible form and then directed to the plants themselves.

Rufus coughed slightly. His Geostigma had been healed, yes, as had most everyone's... but he wasn't one hundred percent sure it had completely left his body. There were days when he felt fine, great... and then there were days he didn't.

Days like today.

Rufus watched some of the construction activity on the other side of Midgar, rubbing his hands together.

He was proud of the progress Shin-Ra and Midgar had made in the three years since Meteor. The Geostigma crisis had been taken care of, thanks to Cloud Strife.

Again.

Rufus chuckled to himself. He'd tried to get Strife to head his new faction of SOLDIER, as General, but the solitary mercenary had declined. As far as Rufus knew, the kid was still running deliveries out of Tifa Lockheart's bar. Rufus couldn't blame Strife, really. He wouldn't have liked to work under that incompetent Heideggar, either.

Instead, Heideggar had promoted a Sergeant Menedez to head up the SOLDIER army... Menedez was no Sephiroth, but he did the job well enough.

A knock at the door brought Rufus out of his reverie, and slightly annoyed, Rufus swiveled in his chair to face the door.

"What is it?"

"Sir, I have an urgent report."

Rufus made a face. It was Reeve. Wishy-washy old Reeve.

"Very well. Come in."

The Oakwood double doors caved open and Reeve, wearing a neatly pressed navy blue suit, stepped into the room. He took a moment to shut the doors behind him and then approached Rufus' desk.

Reeve held a large manila folder in his right hand, which he placed down on the desk in front of Rufus. Rufus' eyes dropped down to it and he raised an eyebrow.

"What is this?"

Reeve cleared his throat. "A report on the Ironclad Organization. They are operating ten miles south of Costa Del Sol."

Rufus sat up straighter. "The who?"

Reeve opened the file folder. "Ironclad." He took out a 8x11 black and white photo, and slid it across the desk in front of Rufus.

"James Glaedari."

Rufus frowned and picked the photograph up. It was a headshot of a large, sturdily built man in his forties or fifties, with balding dark blonde hair and piercing brown eyes. He was smiling confidently in the photo.

Rufus looked up at Reeve. "Never heard of him."

Reeve nodded. "He runs Ironclad... he is the leader of their Black Hand."

Rufus actually laughed. "Excuse me. Black Hand?"

Reeve remained straight faced. He was sure Rufus wouldn't be laughing for long.

"Yes... the Black Hand comprises their top executives... Glaedari is the leader, alongside some men called Justari, Tonari... and Kinden."

Reeve slid another photograph to Rufus. This was of a good-looking man in his early thirties, tan with a head of neatly combed blonde hair. He was smirking in the photograph.

"That is Kinden... the other two, we couldn't locate any photos of them."

"Executives, huh?" Rufus smirked and rummaged through some of the files. "What sort of company are they?"

Reeve ran a finger through his shirt collar. "They are not really a company, Mr. President. They are a widespread criminal organization comprised of assassins, thieves, and dishonorable ninjas that have been thrown out of Wutai... they are outlaws, and they are posing as government to the Costa Del Sol region."

Rufus began to scowl. "Assassins? Ninjas? Reeve, what the hell are you trying to tell me?"

Reeve swallowed. Time for the bad news.

"Mr. President... a submarine in Junon was hijacked this morning."

Rufus nearly shot up out of his seat. "What? When was anyone going to inform me of this?"

Reeve reached into his breast pocket to pull out a handkerchief. He wiped the beads of sweat forming on his brow away.

"A group of black masked men snuck onboard and killed three commanding officers, threw their bodies overboard. The submarine left our radar about two hours ago... we know there were two Navy MP's on board, but their bodies haven't been found. Heiddegar assumes they were are still on board the sub, as hostages."

Rufus felt himself grow red in the face. He stood up, pushing his chair away. It rolled and slammed into the picture window behind him.

"What is being done about this, Reeve?"

Reeve straightened his shoulders. "A search party has been organized by Menedez. He is sending a fleet out to the Junon Harbor to search the waters of the Western Ocean for the sub."

Rufus bawled his hands into fists. Things had been too calm lately... he should have expected something like this.

"So, Reeve, you are telling me that you suspect Ironclad is behind this."

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent." Rufus looked down at the photograph of Glaedari and glared hatefully.

"Sir, there's more."

Rufus looked up at Reeve. "Well, care to tell me about it, Reeve? I'm only the President, you know!"

Reeve nodded, wiping his forehead again. "Yes... the submarine that was attacked... it was on the Rose Gem Search Mission."

Rufus stared at Reeve.

"What?"

"The submarine that was hijacked was supposed to be finding - "

"I know what you said, you idiot!" Rufus screamed. His face was as red as a beet. "That is a classified mission! No one knew about it! How did Ironclad?"

Reeve shrugged. "We suspect they are after the Rose Gem."

Rufus looked at Reeve. "You don't say?" he spat sarcastically. "Reeve, get out of my office. Send Heiddeggar in here immediately."

Reeve nodded. "Right away, sir."

Reeve got out of the office as fast as he could... he could see Rufus Shin-Ra was getting ready to blow a gasket.

Rufus paced his office a few times. The Rose Gem... it was a sensitive issue. It supposedly held great powers, and although Shin-Ra had known its whereabouts for some time, they had never attempted to find it.

Yet the very day Rufus decided to get his hands on it, some bastard decides to interfere.

Rufus looked at Glaedari's photo again.

"You're asking for a war, old man," He said. "Nobody fucks with Rufus Shin-Ra."

"Daniel, pass me a needle and some threading."

"Yes, ma'am."

Professor XinShi Yukasama was standing over Dark Nation, Rufus' faithful hound, strapped into a gurney. The animal had gotten away from Rufus several nights ago, and wondering the city, got into a nasty fight with what XinShi guessed, from the gashes the clawing had created, were a pair of Kalm Wolves that had migrated too close to Midgar.

"It's okay, boy."

XinShi patted Dark Nation's head, and the dog whined. She'd placed him under anestesia, but she suspected the poor thing was still in pain.

"Here you go."

Daniel, a sixteen year old lab intern, handed the surgical needle and thread to XinShi. She took it and went back to work on Dark Nation.

"Will he be alright?"

XinShi pushed her long, dark brown bangs out of her eyes. "Yes, I think he'll be fine. The wounds are not very serious." She went about stitching him up.

XinShi had been working in Shin-Ra's labs since she was thirteen, as an intern to Professor Hojo... a man she despised. Her parents were both lab techs and she had followed right in their footsteps.

Now, eleven years later, XinShi was one of the best scientists at ShinRa. She'd completed her training and earned degrees in Advanced Biology and Physics and graduated at the top of her class from the Shin-Ra University at Midgar. When Professor Hojo left the company and then, was finally killed, Rufus promoted XinShi to run the entire Science department.

And she deserved it. Since Gast, there wasn't a better scientist this side of the Planet.

XinShi finished work on Dark Nation and Daniel went about discarding her materials and cleaning up. XinShi released the straps that secured Dark Nation and scratched him behind the ears gently.

There was nobody better to fix Dark Nation up than XinShi. She had actually created him, several years ago, as an eighteenth birthday present to Rufus. It was an experiment some might say was reminiscent of Hojo, but XinShi had not created a monster. She created a powerful and loving pet with dominant canine properties.

A pet that President Rufus Shin-Ra loved very much and was very attached to.

Dark Nation lifted its head and whined a bit. XinShi smiled and stepped back.

"Come on, boy." She patted her knees. "Lets go back to Rufus."

Dark Nation's ears perked a bit at the mention of Rufus's name. Painstakingly, it hopped off the gurney and limped beside XinShi.

"Good boy. Let's go get a treat and we'll go see Rufus."

She turned to Daniel. "I am going to lunch, and I have to meet with Rufus. I want those Zuu samples analyzed before I return."

Daniel nodded. "Yes, Professor."

XinShi patted Dark Nation on the head again, and led him out of the labs.

Rufus was still pacing his office when Heideggar finally walked in.

"Gya, sir, I am here."

Rufus stopped and looked at him. "What took you so long?" Heideggar opened his mouth to answer, but Rufus held up a hand to stop him. "Never mind. I want to know what is being done about this sub hijacking."

"Well, sir, Menendez has sent out a small group of SOLDIERS with a Navy ship to investigate the waters in that area."

Rufus waited, but Heideggar said nothing else.

"Is that ALL?"

"Gyaha.. well, yessir."

Rufus scowled and stepped dangerously close to Heideggar. "You idiot." He grasped the photograph of Glaedari and waved it in Heideggar's face. "This man is getting in my way... he is after the Rose Gem."

"Gyahah, well yes, Mr. President, we figured this out already."

Rufus wanted very badly to smack him. "You fool, they have hijacked the submarine that was sent out to retrieve the Gem! They now have access to all the information and they will PROBABLY GET IT BEFORE I DO!"

"Gya..."

Rufus turned away from Heideggar quickly. Breathe... Don't... hit... him...

Rufus walked around to the other side of his desk, and as calmly as possible, placed his palms on the desktop and looked at Heideggar. "Listen to me. I want that sub found within the next fourty-eight hours. I mean it. If not, I'm going to shoot you."

"Gyahah."

Rufus narrowed eyes... he could literally feel his blood pressure rise.

"Stop that stupid horse laugh."

Heideggar opened his mouth, then quickly shut it.

"Just do what I say," Rufus ordered. He looked at his watch. "Alright.. I'm having lunch with Professor Yukasama. I want the Turks in my office at exactly three pm. I will meet with them on the matter.. hopefully they have more sense than you do."

Heideggar didn't seem to notice the insult. He shrugged. "Gya, I will inform Tseng."

Rufus sat down. "Yes... you do that. Now get out of my sight."

"Yes, Mr. President."

Rufus watched, disgusted, as Heideggar left and shut the doors behind him. He didn't understand why his father had hired such useless morons.

Then again, Rufus thought, smiling to himself, his father had been a useless moron himself.

Rufus looked at his watch again and rose. He had better get going to meet XinShi.

He rose and went to his closet, retrieving his white overcoat and sliding into it. He stepped into his bathroom and ran a comb through his strawberry hair, and when he was satisfied, smiled at his reflection.

Nobody ever said Rufus Shin-Ra wasn't confident.

He shut off the lights and left the office, walking toward the elevators. He was meeting XinShi at Delaney's, a ritzy restaurant down the block.

He stepped in the elevator and patted his pocket for his keys. He decided he would drive himself.. women liked when men drove.

Now which car to drive?

He eyed the key for his Shin-Ra Yakzuzi model... a high end sports car, with nearly 800 horsepower... Yes, women liked when men drove fast cars.

The elevator chimed, and Rufus stepped out, heading toward the parking garage.

Delany's would normally refuse pets entrance into their establishment, but when they saw Professor Yukasama step in with President Shin-Ra's Dark Nation, not a word of protest was spoken.

The Maitre'D went to XinShi's service immediately. "How may I help you, Professor?"

"I have a reservation to meet with President Rufus Shin-Ra at 12:30," she said.

The Maitre'D nodded. "Yes. He hasn't yet arrived. Shall I seat you?"

"Please," XinShi replied.

The Maitri'D grabbed a pair of menus and led XinShi to their table. As usual, Rufus had chosen a comfortable seat in the rear, by a window. It provided an excellent view but kept them away from the crowds.

The Maitre'D bowed and pulled out a chair for XinShi.

"Enjoy your meal, Professor." XinShi nodded and he walked off.

XinShi peeled off her lab coat, resting it on the back of her chair. She wore a crisp black suit with red pinstripes, and a red v-neck blouse beneath it. She sat down and Dark Nation settled on the floor by her feet, groaning a bit. She looked down at him.

"Oh, relax. You'll be fine... give the pain killers a chance."

Dark Nation snorted in response and XinShi laughed, going into her briefcase to retrieve her palm pilot.

As she waited, she scanned some her files and went over her to do list. Those Zuu samples had to be tested, she suspected they were carrying a rare strain of bird flu. If so, she needed to get a vaccine in production before..."

"Good afternoon, Xin."

XinShi felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to find Rufus standing behind her, a cool smile on his face.

"You're late."

Rufus laughed and moved to take a seat across from her. "My apologies. I ran into some trouble at the office."

XinShi folded her arms over her chest. "You know how much I dislike waiting."

Rufus flipped his hair back. "And you know how much I like the way your eyes sparkle when you are angry."

XinShi felt her face grow red. "Don't patronize me, Rufus."

"I'm not," Rufus said, "I was being - "

There was a whine from under the table.

"Well," Rufus looked under the table. "What have we? Dark Nation, I didn't even see you there. I'm sorry, boy."

Dark Nation rose and limped over to Rufus. Rufus rubbed his head.

"I see the Professor did a fine job fixing you up, buddy," he said. He turned to XinShi. "Thanks, Xin."

XinShi smiled and nodded. "You are very welcome, Rufus. And Dark Nation is very lucky. Those Kalm Wolves can be pretty nasty, and sometimes they carry disease."

"Nah," Rufus said, scratching Dark Nation behind the ears. "I'm sure Dark Nation came out the winner. You probably wouldn't like to see how they ended up."

XinShi merely smiled, and looked through the menu. A waitress came over shortly and took their orders.

"So," Xin said, steepling her hands in front of her. "What was the trouble at the office?"

Rufus frowned, just as the waitress returned with their drinks. He waited until she moved away to answer.

"The Ironclad Organization." He kept his voice low.

"Hm?" XinShi sipped her wine. "Ironclad? Never heard of them."

"I cannot say much on the matter at his point, but it concerns the Rose Gem I was telling you about," Rufus told her, "They are fucking with me."

XinShi saw the sharp look in Rufus' eye and knew it wasn't going well.

"What are you going to do?"

"Squash them." Rufus leaned foward and took her hand across the table. "But lets talk about happier things... like us."

XinShi blushed slightly. "Not in public, Rufus!" she whispered harshly. "The media tongues will start flapping!"

Rufus leveled his gaze with hers. "Really, Xin. I'm beginning not to care anymore."

Xin coughed and sipped her drink again. "Oh, and what might that mean?"

Rufus smirked and leaned back in his chair, pulling his hand from hers. "I'm not really sure, but is it so bad if the world knows we're together?"

"Might be bad for business, Rufus."

"Hmm..." Rufus brought his hand to his chin. "Yes, you're probably right."

XinShi deflated inside. She hadn't really wanted him to say that... damn her and her big mouth.

The waitress brought their food and Rufus thanked her. "So, Xin, how has work been going for you? Any news I need to know about my labs?"

XinShi speared her steak with her fork, annoyed.

"Need some company?"

Tayeko Escobar looked up from where she sat alone, at then end of one of the tables in the Shin-Ra cafeteria. Tseng was standing there with a bottle of water in one hand.

"I don't care."

Tseng frowned and sat across from her. "Hm. You look a little upset. Anything wrong?"

Tayeko shook her head. "No. I'm fine."

Tseng took a sip from his water and stared at her. He knew she was lying, but he wasn't one to pry.

Tayeko was often falling into mood swings. Half Cetra, half Wutain, she'd been a lab subject of Hojo's years ago. A close friend of Sephiroth's, too, if anybody could believe Sephiroth could be a friend. And under Tseng's constant watch. But a freak accident had killed her when she was sixteen - a gunshot to the chest.

Hojo, the perverse man that he was, actually kept her body preserved... and eight years later, Professor Yukasama had stumbled across the freeze chamber wilst cleaning out Hojo's labs.

So Tayeko was back to life... a little confused, forgetful, amnesiac, but fine otherwise. A lot of babbling about Sephiroth, Tseng mused. But he was the only living person Tayeko remembered, so he stayed close to her. Helped her gain back her memory, continued her training, and gave her a position with the Turks.

And she was a damn good one, probably, Tseng thought, because she didn't really give a shit about anything.

Tayeko was pushing her fork through a plate of rubbery spaghetti. God, how she hated this cafeteria food.

Tseng tried to catch her dark violet eyes. "You know, Tayeko, you might want to - "

His PHS rang and Tseng cursed. He picked it up.

"Tseng."

He could hear Heideggar's heavy breathing almost immediately. "Gyaha, Tseng! You and all of the Turks need to be in Rufus' office at three PM sharp! Orders from the President! Gyahaha!"

Tseng sighed. "Right. Fine. We'll be there."

He didn't wait for a response from Heideggar. He pressed "end" and initiated his walkie talkie.

"We have to meet with Rufus at three pm," he told Tayeko. She nodded.

He radioed the other Turks. "Reno, Rude, Elena, be in Rufus' office at three oclock, no exceptions."

He got affrimative responses from everyone except Reno.

"He'll be there," Tseng said. He turned back to Tayeko. "I was saying... You should try to drop some of that weight you are carrying concerning Sephiroth."

"I'm not carrying any weight," Tayeko said stubbornly. "And I don't want to talk about it."

Tseng nodded. He cared about Tayeko, in a brotherly sort of a way. He hated to see her in pain. He knew it was eating her up inside, ever since the Geostigma crises, the battle Cloud had fought with Sephiroth and his... remnants. It had been nearly a year, but he could tell it was still bothering her. She couldn't accept the fact that her Sephiroth was gone.

Tseng sighed. He cared, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He wasn't good at these sort of things... maybe he could sign her up for counseling.

He rose. "I've some the things to take care of. See you in Rufus' office at three."

Tayeko watched him as he walked off.

She brushed her black hair out of her face and pushed her tray of food away. She stared at her black gloved hands, silently contemplative.

She didn't want to think about him any more... but for some reason, everytime she closed her eyes, she saw his face.

Reno sighed. Rufus Shin-Ra was a pain in his ass... ruining his afternoon with some stupid meeting. He thought he'd have been able to hit the bars early today.

Shuffling to the door, he stopped and sighed, bracing himself for the meet with the boss. Grabbing a flask of whisky out of his rumpled jacket, he took a deep pull and put it back. Fully braced now, he went inside.

Tseng, Elena, Rude, and Tayeko were already inside, waiting. Rude and Elena were sitting in two of the three chairs, Tseng and Tayeko were both standing. How sweet of them, Reno thought. They saved a seat for him.

"You're ten minutes late," Rufus Shin-Ra informed him cooly.

"I am?" Reno looked at his watch. "Damn. I'll be back in another twenty."

"Get back here!" Rufus yelled.

Reno frowned. "Aw, but its nearly happy hour at the docks."

Tayeko chuckled.

"Sit down!" Rufus yelled.

"Do I have to?"

It was Rude's turn to chuckle. It was horribly funny when Reno goaded the President.

"Yes, you have to!" Rufus was turning red now. "I sign the checks, I decide who lives and dies and I make the decisions!"

Tseng turned and looked at Reno sharply. "Reno, please. Have a seat."

Reno frowned and slid into the available chair.

"I apologize for him," Tseng said. "Now What is the urgent situation, sir?"

Rufus afforded Reno with the most terrifying glare he could muster before continuing.

He took the folder Reeve had brought him with the information on Ironclad and handed it to Tseng.

"The Ironclad Organization."

Tseng opened the folder and rummaged through it a bit. "Hm. Ironclad... that name sounds oddly familiar."

He passed the folder down to Elena.

"Who are they?" She looked through the folder and stopped on Kinden's photograph. "Oh, he's cute."

Rufus glared at Elena. "No member of any organization that is trying to get in my way is 'cute'! Remember that!"

Elena nodded, swallowed, and passed the folder onto Rude.

"This band of criminals has hijacked one of my submarines in Junon this morning," Rufus said. "Killed three commanding officers and tossed them into the Western. Dropped right off of fucking Radar."

"That could be a problem," Rude stated.

Rufus looked at Rude. "Yes, Rude. Thank you for your insight." He took a breath. "Normally, that situation would because for enough alarm. But this situation proves to be even more delicate."

"Why might that be?" Tayeko asked.

"The Rose Gem," Rufus sat on the edge of his desk in front of them. That submarine was en route to collecting it."

"The Rose Gem?" Elena repeated.

"Yes," Rufus said. "A very powerful artifact.. we're not even sure of its properties. I was going to have it retrieved and sent to Yukasama for study... but they are going to try to get their hands on it first."

Reno was slouching in his chair. "And I assume you're going to tell us that its up to us to make sure that doesn't happen?"

Rufus nodded. "Precisely."

Reno rolled his eyes.

"What is the plan, sir?" Tseng asked.

Rufus slid off the desk and began pacing again. "I want you to send two Turks to find their base... its somewhere near Costa Del Sol. Gather information."

Tseng nodded.

"The rest of you, bypass Sergeant Menendez's fleet and see if you can't recover our submarine first."

"Right, sir."

"Listen," Rufus slammed his fist on the desk. "I want that submarine recovered before those bastards find the gem," He scowled, "At all costs."

Tseng nodded. "I've got you loud and clear. I will send Tayeko and Reno to Costa Del Sol, and I will take Rude and Elena to recover the sub."

"Sweet," Reno said. "I get the chick." He winked at Tayeko.

Tayeko frowned at Reno and Elena turned to him.

"Hey! I'm a chick too!"

"Eh, you don't count. You're with Tseng."

Elena turned three shades of red.

"Reno, that is quite enough," Tseng said. He turned to Rufus. "I assume that's eveything, Mr. President?"

"Yes," Rufus said, and collapsed back into his desk chair. "Get your lackey's the hell out of my office."


	3. Chapter 2 NakuTayXin

Author's Note: This chapter was written by all three of us - Naku, myself, and Xin, in that order... so PLEASE give us reviews, or we will be sad.

Chapter 2

"three...two...one..."

_Clang_

A small steel grate fell from the ceiling and crashed on the floor. Nakumine winced as it banged onto the marble floor... However at the same time the guard was supposed to have just turned into the guard station.

Nakumine hoped that the guards stayed as regular as they had been the past few weeks he had been observing them. He silently dropped down onto the marble floor, clothed in a tight-fitting spandex-like material, swathed in all black from head to toe. Nakumine silently crept down into the hall, passing dozens of valuable Cetra artifacts... however none of these interested him. He crossed a wide bay window, with the full moon shining through the glass, making a pale square on the polished black marble floor.

Then he came into the hall in which his target lay. He looked at his watch as he stood at the entrance of the Hall of Ancient Blades. He had three minutes to grab his target and get out of the hall before the guard came around. He switched his multi-tasking goggles into infrared vision. There were three main lasers moving along the floor, good enough to trip up thieves without knowledge of them, but a cakewalk to practiced thieves who could see them.

He agilely danced around the beams; narrowly dodging the red beams of light coming from somewhere nears the base of the walls. He reached a safe-spot, where the lasers never crossed, and stood in front of his object of admiration.

It was a very old blade, said to be forged in the time of the Cetra. The plaque beneath it read:

_"This ancient blade was created in the Cetra forges, and even though it is hundreds of years old, it is still just as strong as when it was forged. The Cetra have a certain affinity for dropping in not just materia orbs, but large fragments of what appeared to be Mako crystals. The materia in this blade is of Thunder. No other blade of this type is known to exist."  
_  
Nakumine grinned. Now it was going to be his... He brought out a thin metallic pen-shaped object that he pressed against the glass. According to his 'research' (he actually just hacked into museum mainframes to learn about their security systems) there weren't any pressure switches, or Smart Glass. He set the tip of the metallic rod against the glass and pressed the back of it. The glass shattered and made a quiet tinkling on the floor as the sharp tip of the metallic rod rammed into the glass.  
Nakumine glanced at his watch... one and a half minute's left... he better get going. He grabbed up the blade, Khazid'hea, it said inscribed on the old, old sheath, clipped it onto a loop going around his back and his chest and dropped a plain dagger with a black hilt onto the velvet Khazid'hea had just rested on. Then he made his intricate dance through the laser web and stood once more at the entrance to the Ancient Weaponry hall.

Then he heard something that horrified him... footfalls. He looked at his watch… The guard was thirty seconds early. Nakumine dashed down the black marble floor and turned the corner, just as the guard turned into the hallway Naku had just left. Nakumine stood under the grate he had fallen from and grabbed onto the rope he had left. As he was climbing up it, the guard, quicker than Nakumine had expected, turned the corner, and stood stock still, staring at Naku. Naku stared back, his head working at a blinding speed, going through what he needed to do. The guard ran for a nearby alarm switch.

But Nakumine pulled another dagger out of his belt and threw it with deadly accuracy. It hit the guard in the neck, landing so solidly that no blood seeped out. The guard collapsed. Naku leapt off of his rope and picked up the guard, dragging him to a nearby closet. He set him in a respectable position leaning against the wall in the closet, with the door open, so he might be found sooner, but no sooner than it took him to leave. Nakumine hated to have to kill guards, or anyone for that matter, and made a mental note of the guard's name.

He got out of the museum and a safe distance away from it with no further deviations to his plan, though he had to make a couple more stops then he expected. He stopped at a florist shop that he was surprised was still open at this hour, and bought thirteen black roses. Then he looked in a phone book on a payphone and found the guard's address.

It took him only a half an hour to find the address and as he pulled up to the drive in his sleek black muscle car, he saw a minivan in the driveway, and the house dark.

"Damn... kids."

Nakumine was sincerely sorry that he had taken away the kids father. He hung his head as he stepped out of his car. He walked up to the porch, and was about to set the roses on the doormat when the door opened. Nakumine looked in and saw no one, then looked down. There was a little girl there, so young, that when you were that young, you wouldn't wonder why a stranger dressed in all black was standing on your porch; you would just be innocently curious. Nakumine knelt down and embraced the child.

"Here... These are for you... I'm sorry."

Nakumine hugged the child for what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes. The girl never said anything, but merely took the roses and hugged Nakumine back.

Finally Nakumine let go and stepped back... Then he turned around, got into his car and drove off, with the girl still standing in the doorway.

A little while later his phone chirped in the cup holder. He picked it up, cursing explosively as he saw the caller tag.

"Hello"

"You have deviated from your task Nakumine."

Nakumine instinctively frowned as he heard that hated voice. Just the calm drawl of it infuriated him.

"No I haven't. I just took a side trip. I have your stupid diamond Glaedari."

"Take care. It is not just a diamond… At least it won't be."

Nakumine held the rather large gem in his hand. It was the biggest diamond he had ever seen, and had been a pain in the ass to steal.

"Whatever. I got it right here. I am returning now." Nakumine muttered over the speaker.

"You would take care to show your respect in the future, Nakumine." Glaedari's voice said. It sounded like it was straining to remain calm.

The line went dead and Naku scowled at it. He never respected Glaedari. He hated him. But here he was, stealing huge ass diamonds among other things for him. All because he had played the dirtiest trick in the book...

Fifteen minutes later, Nakumine walked into a building in the middle of nowhere and opened the door to Glaedari's office. Glaedari was waiting at his desk with his hands steeped together. Nakumine walked in front of it and dropped the diamond in front of him.

" Ah… Excellent work Little Naku…" Glaedari said, taking up the large gem and admiring it.

Nakumine grinded his teeth, he fingered the sword he had just acquired. Soon…

Glaedari stood up and stared at Nakumine with a seemingly knowing look in his eye. The tension built in the room. It grew as the silence lengthened. Then, with the speed of a Shinobi, Nakumine took out Khazid'hea and slashed at Glaedari.

Glaedari had been expecting it though. He took out the saber at his side and easily parried the blow to the side. Then he stabbed forward. Nakumine leaped back to avoid the stab as Glaedari leaped around the desk and pressed forward. Nakumine soon found himself pressed against the wall, deflecting blow after blow. Then he stuck his foot out and kicked Glaedari hard in the shin. Glaedari cursed and backed off, until Nakumine charged forward.

But the advance was useless. Glaedari ducked low to the ground and tackled Nakumine's legs. Naku fell to the floor, Khazid'hea flying out of his hand. Glaedari stood up and kicked Nakumine's head. Stars erupted behind Naku's vision as he felt himself losing consciousness.

"You will learn your place soon enough Little Naku." Glaedari said just before he blacked out.

* * *

Nakumine awoke in his room with a horrible lump on his skull, and a powerful headache to go with it. He did not stir, but the other person inside the room knew he had awakened. 

"You should know better… You can't beat him."

Nakumine stirred then and shifted his position.

"Come on Kinden… Do you expect me to submit to him? I have to get out of here…" Nakumine replied. He could hear Kinden sigh then before he opened the door.

"You are a braver man than I Nakumine Kaizer." Kinden left Naku to rest and he walked down the hall to Glaedari's office.

"Glaedari… Surely you put too much stress on Nakumine."

Glaedari looked up from the diamond at Kinden. He smirked.

"Of course not. He will learn his place. Or die." Glaedari said turning his attention back to the huge gem in his hand.

Kinden sighed and left the room. He was the closest thing Nakumine had to a friend here, and there was nothing he could do to help him. Kinden was just not brave or strong enough to do anything.

He was also bored. Glaedari had nothing for him to do, and Justari and Tonari, the other members of the Black Hand, were currently running from Shin-Ra with their precious submarine. That turned Kinden's thoughts to another subject. The Rose Gem.

Glaedari did not know much about it. Nobody did. But Kinden knew enough about it to want to leave it alone. But Glaedari's mad search for power would not leave it be… He would find it and unleash whatever power it had to its fullest extent, no matter how many people got in his way. Kinden decided to return to his room and rest. Things were going to come to a head pretty soon, and Kinden did not like how many people were in danger.

* * *

"Tell us damnit!" Justari roared at the hostages he had inside the stolen Shin-Ra submarine. 

The MP inside quivered under Justari's furious temper.

"I... I don't know! I was just hired security here!" He screeched out finally.

Justari cocked his six-shooter and pointed to his head.

"Leave him be Justari. Your temper has already killed three, and probably lead Shin-Ra onto our trail." Tonari calmly commented.

Tonari, clad in a simple white robe with a slim katana strapped to the belt, was leaning against the sub's wall. It was on auto-pilot headed towards where Shin-Ra had already set it to go, in hopes that they would find what they were looking for there. However, so far the results were not rewarding.

Justari who had a brown Stetson on his head, as well as a long seemingly always dirty brown trench coat, lowered his six-shooter and crossed his arms.

"How else are we going to get the information if you don't let me torture 'em?" Justari retorted.

"They don't know anything. We will just follow the autopilot until we get to the Rose Gem." Tonari said.

Justari scowled and glared at the prisoners once more before climbing back up the ladder to the bridge. Tonari pushed away from the wall and followed him. The sub was small and cramped. Tonari didn't like it… But he dealt with it. Justari did not handle bad situations with as much patience as Tonari did… The first thing he did upon crawling into the crowded sub was to shoot three of the members to 'make some space'. Tonari had begun to believe he was claustrophobic.

They both seated themselves in the bridge and looked to where the autopilot was sending them. They had it recorded and already sent back to base, so even if something happened to them, they would still be able to pick up where they left off.

The sonar bonged and Justari tilted his hat over his eyes, intending to take a small nap. Tonari stayed awake to watch the sonar. Shin-Ra would be pursuing them…

* * *

General Menendez ran a hand down his face as he watched the radar. 

"Can't we move this bitch any faster?"

A third class Navy SOLDIER turned to him. "We're already going forty knots, sir. The submarine has appeared on our radar. If we continue at this rate, we will be upon them in less than fifteen minutes.

Menendez frowned, the features on his olive face darkening, frown lines that had years of conditioning forming on his brow. They were making good time, but it wasn't good enough for him. Heidegger was on his ass, the President had been very pissed about this sub hijacking.

He watched the radar, saw the dot which was the stolen Shin-Ra submarine, moving towards the northern continent.

They would have to stop them, and fast. Whatever this Rose Gem was, it was obviously very important to the President that Ironclad did not get their hands on it.

Menendez was going to see to it that didn't happen. His ass was on the line. He'd only been in his position a few months and he'd had yet to oversee a mission as important as this. Expectations were high; after all, he'd taken Sephiroth's position. Menendez was going to do his best, but damnit, he didn't have superhuman powers.

He chuckled. He suspected the Great Sephiroth would have just flown onto the hijacked sub, slaughtered the offending hijackers and returned home to glory.

Menendez' frown deepened and he eyed the radar again.

"We're getting closer, General," the SOLDIER said. "They are above water."

"Pull up immediately," Menendez ordered. "And warm up the torpedoes."

* * *

Tonari looked up as the sonar bleeped loudly. He saw a tiny green dot indicating that another craft was closing in. 

He nudged Justari roughly. "Justari, wake up, now."

Justari gave a snort and looked at him. "What? We found it?"

"No," Tonari said, and indicated the sonar. "We've got company."

"Shit," Justari cursed, leaping to his feet. "That's those goddamn Shin-Ra bastards."

"Apparently," Tonari said. "And they are sure to attack."

"Call the headquarters," Justari said. He was highly pissed off. How did they get here so fast? "Get us a chopper out of here."

* * *

Rude was navigating the helicopter with ease, Tseng and Elena watching the waters down below. 

"I see something!" Elena exclaimed.

Tseng leaned over, looked out the window. Two submarines, less then four hundred feet apart, where heading north in the Western Ocean. They were both Shin-Ra subs.

"Rude, that is them," Tseng said. "Pull down on them. Elena, arm yourself, and quickly. We may be able to get a clear shot if Rude stays steady."

"Shoot them?"

"Yes, Elena. If they are not wearing a Shin-Ra uniform, shoot."

Elena nodded. Killing was one of the duties she enjoyed least about this job… it always left her slightly nauseated and a tad bit guilty.

But Turk's work was Turk's work, and there was no way in hell she was going to let Tseng down. She removed her seat belt and went to load her rifle.

"Give us the word, General."

"Fire the torpedo… I am going above deck."

"But sir, the MP's might still be on board… they will be killed."

Menendez shook his head. "Unfortunately I don't have the time to rescue them… Fire the torpedo."

Menendez turned and went to go above. He hated the thought of it, but what was he to do? He couldn't be sure if the MP's were still alive anyway… it was just a risk he was going to have to take.

But he hoped to god they were not still on board.

* * *

Tonari had put through a call to Ironclad's headquarters. 

"A chopper is on its way for us now."

Justari nodded, just as the sonar began bleeping wildly. He turned to it.

"Shit… they're firing a torpedo at us."

Tonari leapt up. "We've got to get to the surface."

Justari didn't waste a moment. He grabbed his six shooter and was moving towards the ladder.

"Wait a minute!" Tonari yelled. "What about them?" He pointed to the two MP's, who were practically shaking.

"Screw 'em,"

Tonari shook his head. "Let's go… Shin-Ra won't slaughter us if we've got some of their own."

Justari shrugged and kept going.

Tonari gestured to the two MP's to get up and move. They hesitated, but slowly stood and followed Justari and Tonari to the surface.

* * *

Menendez watched, waiting to see the torpedo project itself over the waters and into the sub. It would bring victory to him and seal his position as the General of SOLDIER. 

His face sank in horror when he saw two MP's follow a white robed man and a cowboy onto the deck.

"Abort!" He suddenly yelled. He couldn't be responsible for the death of his own men. "Abort!"

* * *

Elena spotted Justari's huge Stetson as soon as he popped out of the top of the submarine. 

"That's one of them!" She cried, aiming her weapon. Rude hovered the helicopter closer to the waters, giving her a clear shot.

"Elena, wait!" Tseng called out, grabbing her shoulder. "There are two MP's down there!"

Elena froze. She had totally missed that…. She blushed and sat back.

"Hold your fire… we need to rescue them. Shin-Ra doesn't let their own die."

Elena nodded and watched as Tseng worked about and lowered the ladder. Rude pulled the helicopter dangerously close to the sub and Elena could almost make out the shocked expression on the cowboy's face.

"Closer, Rude!" Tseng was yelling. "Elena, I trust your aim. When you feel you've got a good shot, take those two out and we'll get the MP's."

Elena nodded. She was shaking, her hands were sweating. The rifle felt like it might slip out of her hand and plummet straight into the ocean below.

_Relax, Elena… just don't screw up…_

* * *

"Fucking Turks," Justari was saying, his mouth practically hanging open. 

Tonari looked up at the helicopter; he could see the woman's blonde head bobbing as she tried to steady herself in the doorway. He turned and faced the other submarine, saw the Shin-Ra General standing on the platform. What a predicament this was.

"They're going to shoot us."

"Where the hell is Kinden?" Justari roared.

As if to answer his question, the sudden roar of an engine was heard in the western sky. Justari and Tonari both looked up to see another helicopter approach.

"There he is."

Justari began waving his arms wildly to grab Kinden's attention. Frightened, both MP's backed away from the pair.

A SOLDIER climbed the ladder wildly to meet Menendez on the deck.

"General! It is too late to abort the torpedo! She will launch in thirty seconds!"

"Christ," Menendez said. Now blood was going to be on his back. "Fuck!"

The SOLDIER stood there, stupidly, as Menendez cursed and paced.

Rude had long since been aware of the Ironclad chopper approaching on his radar, and promptly notified Tseng.

"Now, Elena… take them out now!"

The chopper was hovering, bouncing wildly, and Elena was having a difficult time keeping her aim steady. She let off a shot at the man in the Stetson, but it missed, slamming into the side of the submarine.

"Elena!" Tseng yelled, and moved toward her. She shook her head.

"I've got it!" She wasn't giving up. She could see the Ironclad chopper lowering its ladder for the two men; the MP's nervously crouched in the back. The man in the white robe had already begun climbing the ladder when Elena finally readied herself for another shot.

Turbulence rocked the chopper then, sending Elena reeling back, smacking into Tseng, her rifle flying from her grip and throttling itself into the air and then down into the depths of the ocean below. She felt her shoulder ram into something hard, and white-hot pain ripped through her, spots blackening her vision.

She heard Tseng growl an angry curse beside her, then struggle to climb over her body. She blinked, but felt she couldn't move… the pain was absolutely staggering. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe deeply so that she could clear her vision as well as her head.

* * *

Tonari was agley climbing the ladder, Justari close behind him. He hurdled himself into the chopper and Justari followed behind him, crashing on top of him. Tonari let out a yelp of surprise and quickly pushed Justari off of him. 

Tonari pulled himself together, slamming the door shut and dropping himself into a seat. Justari rose as well and tried to seat himself.

"Justari…" Tonari looked at him curiously. "Your hat…"

Justari felt his head. His Stetson was gone… it had dropped off into the water whilst he was climbing.

"Goddamnit!"

Kinden, who was piloting, turned from the cockpit and looked at them both rather coolly. "How did Shin-Ra get your tails so fast? You managed to get SOLDIER as well as the Turks after you."

Tonari shrugged, dusting off his shoulders. "I really do not know…. They just all appeared out of no where."

"Bastards," Justari added with a snarl.

Kinden turned back to navigate the chopper away from the scene. He smirked to himself… it would have been nice to see Justari shot by that woman Turk.

"Glaedari will not be pleased," was all he said.

* * *

Tseng pushed Elena forcefully out of the way, and Rude reared the helicopter close to the submarine. The targets escaped, but they still needed to save the MP's. 

The MP's recognized the Shin-Ra chopper and eagerly made for the ladder. When they had boarded to safety, Tseng slammed the door and ordered Rude to depart.

"You are lucky to be alive," Tseng said to the MP's, who were falling over themselves, thanking him.

He ignored them and turned to Elena, who was lifting her head, gripping her shoulder, wincing. He put his arm beneath her and tried to help her sit up. He touched her shoulder gently, and he felt it loose.

"You've dislocated it... I'll have to pop it back it in."

Elena started to question him, but Tseng didn't give her a chance. He placed one hand against the back of her shoulder, and used the other to force her arm back into place.

Elena yelped in searing pain, her eyes going wide as hot tears exploded into their corners. She felt the pain numb and she looked at Tseng.

"Oh… god…"

"You'll be fine," he said coolly, and helped her to stand to sit in one of the seats.

"What happened?" She asked him, still wincing.

"You missed the shot, but we got the MP's," Tseng told her.

Elena withered. "I… I failed?"

Tseng gave her an unreadable look. He opened his mouth to speak, just when an explosion rocked the area and sent the chopper into wild turbulence.

* * *

"Ten seconds, sir!" 

Menendez shook his head in a mix of aggravation and sorrow. The damned hijackers had escaped and he was about to kill his own… this wasn't going to look good at all when they returned.

He watched then, in amazement and gratitude when the Turk's chopper dipped down, the escape ladder swinging wildly, the MP's climbing it. He felt his chest swell when they made it safely on board, and the chopper pulled away into the sky.

He turned to the SOLDIER. "Get us out of here," he said. He couldn't keep the triumph out of his voice.

The SOLDIER had been watching the display as well. "Right away, sir," and with a salute, turned and went back below.

Menendez watched then as, a few seconds later, the torpedo launched itself and slammed into the submarine, blowing it to hell.

Well, at least the only loss was of the craft.

* * *

An hour after lunch, XinShi had returned to work in the laboratories in Shin-Ra. She entered the large room alone. Rufus had taken Dark Nation home so XinShi didn't have to worry about watching the dog while trying to work. 

"Ma'am, I got the samples analyzed for you."

Daniel walked to her after seeing her enter, holding a folder, with paper work in it.

"Thank you, Daniel."

XinShi took the files and walked to her desk, over in the far corner of the room. Taking a seat behind her desk, she opened the files, canning them over, looking for keywords that would grab her attention, and as she ran her right index finger down the page, she ran across the words "Positive For" and she stopped.

"Bird Flu," she sighed.

Luckily, it wasn't a new strain, and was easily treated when caught in the early stages.

"Daniel, please takes these files and have Carson see them. He'll be best to take care of this. I have an appointment coming, in about five minutes."

"Yes Professor."

Daniel retrieved the files from her and quickly took off to the other labs next door.

After Daniel left, XinShi made her way to the file cabinet and pulled out a sheet for vaccine recording.

She sat back at her desk and began filling it out. But her mind was on the Rose Gem, that Rufus had mentioned. She had been budded with the responsibilities of finding out what its properties were, and what it could do.

She didn't know that much about minerals, but she was the only one Rufus could entrust with something so, secret.

XinShi was almost done filling out the paper work when there was a knock at the lab door.

"Come in."

The door clicked open, echoing in the quiet room and almost seemed to slam loudly also. XinShi seemed to wince at the sound in the room and looked up to see Tayeko walking to her desk.

"How are you doing Professor?"

"Ah, don't call me that when we are alone, Tay. Were good friends, and that's too business like for you to be referring to me as all the time."

Tayeko gave a soft chuckle, "Right."

XinShi sat the pen down and pointed over to the examination table.

"Take a seat and I will get you vaccine ready."

"Alright."

Tayeko walked to the table and with a small jump, she placed herself on top of the table, hands resting at her sides, palm down.

XinShi walked to a refrigerator and opened it, pulling out a tray loaded with veils filled with an off white liquid. Closing the door, she also made her way to get a syringe from a drawer. Then finally, after gathering those two items, she walked to the table that Tayeko was sitting on.

"How's work going for you Tay?"

XinShi sat the tray down, the name "Tayeko" written on the front of it.

Tayeko shrugged some, "It's alright, but Tseng wants me to keep talking about Sephiroth, but I'm just not ready."

XinShi picked up the syringe and removed the cap to it, "It takes time to get over people. Though, I never lost a friend, I did lose my parents back in the Meteor Crisis." Then she picked up one of the veils.

"Yea, that's tough."

XinShi stuck the needle into the rubbery part of the veils cap and began drawing out some of the liquid, filling it to ten CC's worth.

Tayeko had an unstable immune system due to the cryogenic freezing. She has been under XinShi's care since day one of her recovery. XinShi hoped that the injection therapy wouldn't have to last for the rest of her life, and was working on trying to fix that problem for her.

"Could you take off your jacket and roll up your sleeve, please?"

Tayeko replied by removing her suit jacket and rolling up the white long sleeve to just above the elbow, "The only part I hate about this, is the extreme cold sensation at first."

XinShi laughed some, "Yeah, that does feel a bit weird."

XinShi then stuck the syringes cap between her teeth as she held the syringe itself in her left hand, while flicking at Tayeko's main blood vessel in her right arm. Once it showed well, she slid the needle into her skin and into the vessel. Then she squeezed it.

Tayeko growled with annoyance.

XinShi pulled the needle out and grabbed a cotton ball, and taped it to her arm. After that, she capped the used syringe and threw it into a biohazard trash can.

"So you have any work for today?"

"Rufus called a meeting at three in the afternoon for a briefing. So I don't know what is in store for us today."

"Sounds like more fun than I had at lunch."

XinShi was busy returning the tray back into its proper place.

"Lunch didn't go that well with Rufus?"

"Ah, you know me, too concerned about the public eye than us."

"Oh."

XinShi turned around and looked at Tayeko, "Yup, had to open my mouth about it again. But I will learn from it this time."

Xin laughed, mostly at herself.

"Well, I am off."

Tayeko grabbed her jacket, and was shaking out the rolled up sleeve.

"Have a good day."

"You too, Xin."

Tayeko was putting on her jacket as she was stepping out of the office.


	4. Chapter 3 Tay

Tayeko and Reno had been riding over the Western Ocean en route to Costa del Sol for a few hours now, Reno flying the chopper with ease and expertise. It had been an uneventful trip so far, but Reno was sure the excitement was yet to come.

It was the first time he'd actually taken a mission with Tayeko, alone, and it was proving to be bittersweet thus far. It was preferable to working with Elena, as Tayeko was quiet and subdued. There was none of that incessant rambling and chatter that Elena was so fond of to deal with.

On the flip side… she was a little too quiet for Reno's tastes… it was almost to the point where she was boring, and Reno hated to be bored. She hadn't spoken more than a few words since they'd departed, and anything she did say had to do directly with the mission. She simply sat there, staring out the window, brooding, clutching her PHS in her gloved hand as if expecting someone to call her.

In fact, working with her kind of reminded him of working with Tseng… maybe it was a Wutain thing, Reno thought.

Reno kept looking over at her, hoping to catch her eye so he could smirk or make a stupid comment. Anything that would break this god-awful silence.

Well, he would work on that soon enough… Costa del Sol was in view and he would have to be landing soon.

Tayeko was quite attentive, he realized, perking up when she realized they were reaching the resort town and beginning to making preparations to disembark. Slightly impressive… but then again, she'd been trained by Tseng, just like he had.

He lowered the chopper onto a wide span of grass about a mile from the Costa, landing with a slightly shaky bump that shook the craft. Shutting it down, he disabled his seat belt and hopped out.

"Got everything, Babe?"

Tayeko didn't respond to his term, not even with a facial expression. She merely grasped the case that contained their necessary materials, and hopped out of the chopper.

Reno bit back laughter. She was as a real bitch, purposely ignoring him, he noted. It made him want to goad him even more.

Before he could say another word to her, his PHS chirped loudly. Tayeko looked up at him, waiting for him to answer it.

"Yeah…" He looked at the caller tag. It was Tseng. He flipped open the phone and placed it to his ear.

"Yeah boss?"

"Reno," Tseng's voice came on the line. "What is your progress?"

"We've just touched down in Costa Del Sol," Reno said, looking at the sky and blocking the sunlight from his eyes with his arm. "Well, not in Costa, but like, near it, ya know what I mean."

"Right. I trust you'll be moving into position soon…The President's temper is shortening."

"So what else is new?" Reno idly scratched the back of his neck. "How'd it go with the sub?"

Tseng's cleared his throat. "We were able to stop them from their mission, but the hijackers escaped," he explained. "Elena… missed her shot."

Reno sighed, not really surprised with this news. "Tell Elena I said she sucks."

"I will not tell her you said that," Tseng said, his voice suddenly sounding strained. "Get back to work. Keep me posted, and be careful. And don't take forever."

"Will do, Chief." Reno slammed the phone shut and pocketed it, turning back to Tayeko.

"Boss says we can take a few days off."

Tayeko raised both eyebrows curiously. "What? But what about the mi-"

"Ah, just kidding," Reno said with a laugh. "Knew that would get you to talk."

Tayeko's mouth hung open for a moment, and she quickly shut it. She gazed at Reno for a moment and shook her head.

"Yeah, well, we better go find these Ironclad goons before Rufus gives himself an ulcer… lets say we head to the Inn and work out our strategy."

Tayeko nodded.

Reno started to head towards the town, a grin on his face. "Ya know, as a commanding officer, you should really address me as sir."

Tayeko just stared at Reno, an eyebrow raised. She wondered where he pulled all of this arrogance from. As if she could really address him as "sir" with any seriousness in her voice.

Reno shrugged and laughed, and Tayeko followed him to town.

Costa del Sol was vibrant with activity, the beaches were flooded with crowds and even at the early hour, the bars were packed. Reno, lugging their bags over his shoulder, watched Tayeko as she strode in front of him, unable to keep himself from appreciating the view it afforded.

They found the inn, rather quickly, and Reno dropped the bags for a moment to book them a room. Tayeko glanced up at the clock on the wall; it was late in the afternoon.

Reno booked the room and tossed a set of keys to her. She read the room number, nodded to him, and headed for the stairs.

---------

Rufus sat in his office, swiveling in his desk chair with a thoughtful look on his face. The recovery of the stolen submarine had been a bittersweet victory, while they had kept the Ironclad goons from progressing any further, they'd managed to escape, and the submarine was destroyed, ironically at Shin-Ra's command.

That was another 4.4 million dollars, he noted to himself with a frown, flushed down the toilet of dispirited expenses. It angered Rufus, while he didn't consider himself a penny pincher, budgets in several departments were already over his sales plan for the year, and it was no small feat keeping costs in line, especially after the near destruction of Midgar, and all the funding it had taken for WRO to get things in place again. While bankruptcy was not an immediate threat, Rufus knew that he had to keep things under control. The fact that department execs were constantly demanding higher budgets – especially Scarlet, who insisted the development of her weapons (secret projects she didn't care to disclose the details of right away) needed more and more funding annually, wasn't helping.

It was for these reasons that Rufus had called a meeting that morning with all department execs. He stood, holding his coffee in his left hand, while his right reached down to scoop up his manila file folder that had the meeting's itinerary waiting inside. He strode away from his desk, and made for the 69th floor.

The conference room was a well lit, traditionally decorated place – Rufus had gone through amazingly anal direction to ensure the new headquarters had been built to his standards. He had never liked his father's designs of the old HQ – it had been choppy and technical, the pale hallways and corridors, the space-aged whooshing elevators with their little green and red lights that signaled availability, even the lobby had been cold and futuristic to him. While Rufus was a fan of all the technological advances that were being made, he preferred the building to have a time-honored, even royalist air. Therefore, dark wood railings, wide, Oakwood doors, and crimson carpeting adorned the new building.

As did the new conference room, where XinShi, Heiddeggar, Scarlet, and Reeve all sat, sipping coffee, Heiddeggar munching his way through a half dozen box of doughnuts that were apparently, only for him. Rufus made a disgusted face at the large man, not missing the white specks of powered sugar in his salt and peppered beard. Heiddeggar caught his glare and laughed with a loud "Gya", and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

Rufus sighed and made his way to the head of the table, the large double doors slamming in his wake. Xinshi sat on the far right of the table, noticeably spacing herself as far as possible from Scarlet and Heiddegar, both of whom Rufus knew she detested. It seemed she detested him too, he realized, from the glaring way she watched him as he entered, her brown eyes ablaze with fire and accusations. What had he done now?

Oh, right, he thought as he dropped the file folder on the table with a loud snap. The whole, "coming out in public" thing. He had been the one to suggest it, and he certainly didn't understand why XinShi might be upset, when she had to be the reasonable one to thwart it. When he'd agreed, she'd gotten angry, and from what Rufus could see, still was. She probably had hoped that he would adamantly disagree, proclaiming their love, just so she could hear it. Women were funny that way.

Well, Rufus most certainly did not have time to play love games with the hot blooded scientist, and purposefully ignored her searing stares. He had a company to run.

"Alright," He began, still standing, pulling open the file folder with a flick of his wrist. "Since everyone is here, let's begin with-"

The doors to the conference room barreled open, a red faced Palmer bumbling through and quickly shutting the doors again. He hobbled over to the table in that dancing way of his, balancing a surely lard-filled cup of tea in his right hand as he took a seat.

"Sorry I'm late! Tra la!"

Rufus stared blank faced as the man tried to squeeze his tubby form into a seat, the wood of the chair creaking and squealing in protest of his weight. Heiddegar allowed himself a stifled "gya", muffled slightly by the doughnut in his mouth.

"Why are you here?" Rufus suddenly asked, highly annoyed by the interruption. "Nothing we are to discuss has anything to with you. The space program isn't opening. Ever." It wasn't conceivable with the budget the way it was, he declined to add.

Palmer slumped his shoulders a bit at hearing this, clearly whatever hopes he had skipped in with were shattered.

Rufus flipped his hair back in that annoyingly smooth way of his, a habit that often made XinShi's heart skip a beat whenever he did it, while also infuriating her at his arrogance. She took in a sharp breath of annoyance, and with a roll of her eyes, turned her focus to her own file folder.

Rufus ignored her obvious dramatics, instead focusing his energy on getting the meeting started without further idiosyncrasy. He turned to the other execs, a tiny voice in the back of his head questioning again what his father had been thinking when he hired this band of wing nuts to run his company.

"First order of business," he said in that authoritative voice of his, his posture upright and strong, determined to flaunt his dominance in the room. "As you all may know, we were able to stop our foes – Ironclad – from discovering the Rose Gem. However –"he cast a baleful, accusatory glance to Heiddeggar, "The operation was far from successful, in my expectations."

Scarlet coughed, and Heiddeggar practically hung his head in shame. Scarlet, who had lost an eye during the battle with Proud Clod and AVALANCHE, sat in a vampish red dress that was a far cry from dress code for the office, tapping her fingers against the wood of the desk in front of her, her blood itching for a cigarette. Instead of getting an artificial eye, she wore a black eye patch over the right eye. While she thought it gave her a dangerous, vicious, sexy look, it was really the subject of many pirate jokes behind her back.

"We lost a submarine," Rufus said so gravely, one would think he was speaking of a human life rather than a piece of military machinery. "A four million dollar submarine. Not only that, but were unable to procure the individuals responsible for this act. Such incompetence is not handled well on my end, and those that were responsible for the recovery, will be dealt with. Menendez is to take a week suspension without pay, and Elena – well I will deal with the Turks myself."

"Now wait just a minute," Heiddeggar said, following a hard, strained swallow of doughnut. "Menendez did the best he could, and – "

"Moving on," Rufus said, not raising his voice a notch, and Heiddeggar's face contorted into disbelief. He comforted himself with the last doughnut in the box.

"Seeing as this is a considerable blow to our budget," Rufus continued, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to make some cuts in every department."

"But sir," Reeve spoke for the first time, his voice a smooth monotone that forever had that little tilt at the end, one that Rufus always thought made him sound slightly flamboyant and gay. "The WRO simply cannot handle another budget cut; if anything we need more Gil. Construction in Sector seven is coming along particularly slow, thanks to the plate drop before Meteor, which is only complicating things for us."

"Except to the WRO," Rufus interjected, and immediately Scarlet straightened up in her chair, preparing to protest.

"That isn't fair," she said, her voice deep and throaty from years of smoking. "The WRO has the highest budget as it stands. You can't possibly cut back from us, and not expect to cut from them. I have a project underway that needs –"

"As President, I can do whatever I want," Rufus informed her coolly, his blue eyes sweeping over her face briefly. "WRO stays with its current budget, the rest of you, cut down 750,000, per quarter."

XinShi was next to protest, leaping from her chair with surprising fluidity. She slapped her small hand on the desk.

"No, Rufus," she said, and Palmer gasped at her lack of formality. "I will not sit here and take another budget cut."

"President…" Rufus reminded her through clenched teeth, locking his eyes with hers. "And I'm afraid you don't have a say in the matter, Professor."

Scarlet had the gall to laugh, a sharp "kya", and XinShi quickly turned a hateful gaze on her, which Scarlet eagerly returned. Did XinShi really think her relationship with the President was not obvious or unknown to the rest of them? It was laughable to think so, and further funny to see Rufus chastise his girlfriend in front of them.

XinShi turned back to Rufus, her gaze fiery as ever. Rufus smirked, as if hoping to somehow charm XinShi into settling down. She breathed deeply to calm herself and sat again, clawing her file folder, her eyes never leaving Rufus'.

"Now. I would like to hear from everyone what their progress is in each department, the status of your projects, and it had better be good, or I'm cutting down further more."

There were deprecating groans all around the room, and Rufus finally took his seat at the head of the conference table, steeping his hands as he listened, a casual smirk on his face.

------

Reno lay stretched out across one bed, arms behind his head, his eyes closed, a content smirk on his face. Tayeko looked at his booted feet, resting at the end of the bed, the soles were incredibly dirty. She wanted to say something, point out the fact he was dangerously close to soiling the sheets with dirt, but she kept silent, knowing Reno probably could care less, and would ignore her.

Reno yawned dramatically, stretching his arms outward. Tayeko cast a look at him, wondering how he could possibly feel tired at this early hour in the afternoon. While she was a late sleeper herself – often sleeping well past noon when there wasn't work to be done – she would still wake up before this hour.

But there was work to be done in this case, and Reno was lounging about as if there wasn't, lying stretched out across the bed, his long legs a seemingly endless trail that led to the filthy boots marring the maroon colored comforter.

She sighed and took a seat on the opposite bed, dropping her bag and wondering why Reno had only gotten one room. She wondered if there were a motive behind it, but then, everything Reno did was a little off.

Why couldn't she have been stuck with Rude? Rude was level headed and efficient, she was sure that they would have gotten started already, for he wouldn't feel the need to dilly dally. Although, Rude didn't tend to be very good company.

Not that she was either, she thought ruefully, going into her bag and taking out the file on Ironclad they'd been given. What was the point of talking, when there was nothing important to say? Or maybe there was, and she just kept it to herself.

She heard Reno snore, and she looked up sharply. He'd rolled over onto his side, his back facing her. She could see how awfully wrinkled his suit jacket was.

She stood up, hovered over him, and pushed his shoulder. "Reno," she said, aggravation rising in her voice. "We've got work to do; you've got to get up."

Reno popped open an eye, a turquoise iris turning lazily to look up at her. Half a grin spread on his lips, and he rolled over to look at her.

"It can wait."

"I don't think that it can," Tayeko said.

Reno gave a short snort of a laugh, and then kicked his legs over the side of the bed, sitting upright. "Alright then. We wouldn't want to upset Tseng, god forbid."

Tayeko raised an eyebrow, watching him as he laughed at his own sarcasm. She sighed.

"Here's the plan then," Reno said, leaning forward with slouchy posture, his elbows resting on his knees. "We set up a communications hub here. You go into the Ironclad facility as a plant, relay the information back to me."

Tayeko sat back on the opposite bed. 'Why do I have to go inside?"

Reno smirked. "It's easier for a female to pull off," he said, "and besides, my face is pretty well known. Espionage ain't gonna work for me."

Tayeko nodded thoughtfully. "What am I supposed to do?"

Reno reached into his pocket and dug out pack of cigarettes, plucking from the pack and tossing it on the better. He snatched a book of matches from the end table by the bed and lit it.

Tayeko wrinkled her nose as the smoke drifted in the air towards her, Reno tossing the match into the ashtray.

"Ironclad is a criminal organization," Reno said, his free hand scratching the sloppy, matted mess on the top of his head that was his hair. "So if you present yourself on their level, they'll buy it."

"Their level?" Tayeko repeated. What did that mean?

"You go in, as a boss for a drug ring in Costa. Offer to form an alliance with Ironclad. Their sure to go for it, assuming it'll fatten their own wallets."

Tayeko furrowed her brow at this. Drug ring? She didn't know the first thing about drugs, certainly not about leading a drug ring. How would she approach them?

"Here, lemmie explain," Reno said, as if he knew what she was thinking. He took another drag on the cigarette, tapped some ashes out into the ashtray. "There are shitloads of drug rings all over Gaia, most of them operating out of Midgar, Costa del Sol, some in Junon and even one with a big front in the Gold Saucer."

"And no one does anything about it?" Tayeko asked, a bit appalled.

Reno grinned at her naivety, blowing smoke from his nostrils. He guessed she couldn't be blamed, for not knowing these things. She had been "out of commission" for the better part of a decade. "We've taken a couple down over the years, ones that don't wish to cooperate with Shin-Ra."

"Cooperate?"

"We don't bother them, as long as they stay quiet, and give us a fair interest for operating in our cities. Ya see, they come in handy. Drugs help keep the poor, poor, and the rich, well, rich. Its complicated, but ya know Shin-Ra, its part of their dirty work."

Tayeko shook her head.

"Alright, enough about that. The deal is, cocaine is a big party drug. Ironclad is sure to know that. You guarantee that if they fund your operation, they get a considerable cut of the profits. Nothing more, they won't even have to see or touch the drugs."

"Fine."

"We gotta get you into character," Reno laughed, smashing the cigarette out in the ashtray. "Make you look like a hot drug lord, leather and chains and shit."

While Reno laughed, Tayeko didn't find it amusing. She thought Reno's idea was rather ridiculous, and she was sure Ironclad wouldn't buy it. Ironclad seemed like the sort of criminal organization that worked with racketeering, illegal weapons development, and terrorist activity. Not drug trafficking and funding. She wondered if Tseng had any idea of Reno's plan, if he would agree with it.

But she didn't disagree as Reno finally started to get to work rifling through their supplies, making a grand mess.

"We'll need to rent a van," he was saying. "I'll set up communications there, and park it nearby their building."

Tayeko just nodded.

"Let's head into the city and see about that. And get you some drug lord clothes." He snickered. "We'll stop for a drink on the way back."

To that, Tayeko didn't have any objections.

-----

"What the fuck was that?"

Rufus swiveled in his chair, turning to find Professor XinShi, standing a few feet opposite his desk, near the door, her hands on her hips, ruffling the usual neat look her lab coat had as it laid across her slim figure. Odd, he hadn't even heard her enter.

"Don't you think to knock," Rufus said, and it wasn't a question. "Entering this office unannounced is not only rude, but it's quite forbidden."

"Stop fucking with me," XinShi said with venom, taking a step closer to the desk. Rufus was, deliberately, she knew, goading and antagonizing her, trying to make her angry. What she hated most, that he was doing an absolutely accomplished job of it.

Rufus remained cool as XinShi seethed in front of him, admiring a tiny crystal chocobo figurine on his desk, as if it suddenly held great interest to him. XinShi cocked an eyebrow, waiting.

"I apologize," Rufus said, though it sounded far from repentant, more cocky and self assured, as if his apology was a blessing to be accepted, rather than an admission for his own transgression.

XinShi let out a soft sigh, tilting her head to one side as she watched him. "Rufus."

"Xin, you'll have to understand about the budget cuts. Costs have been getting out of control around here, and I haven't any other choice."

"This isn't about the budget cut."

"Oh," Rufus said with a smirk, stopping the swiveling movement in his chair. "I see."

"Apparently," XinShi, very aware of the games he was playing. "I didn't like the way you spoke to me in front of my… colleagues."

"I speak to all of you the same," he said nonchalantly. "And you're going to have to learn not to speak to me the way you do when we are alone, in front of others."

"It was your idea to go public with our relationship," she shot back.

"And it was your suggestion that we shouldn't," he reminded her, rising from behind his desk and crossing to stand on the other side, beside her.

XinShi lifted her chin defiantly, leveling her warm brown eyes with his icy blue ones.

"I was only presenting an argument," she contested, "You were supposed to point out how we could overcome that particular hurdle!"

"Was I," Rufus said rhetorically, taking a step closer, so their bodies were inches apart. "Afraid my mind is not quite as analytical as that scientist's brain you've got."

He reached up a hand, tapping his index finger against the side of her temple as he said this. XinShi's eyes followed his hand, and she reached up with her own and grabbed his.

"Unfortunate."

Rufus laughed and pulled her close to him, silencing her saucy words with an unexpected kiss.


End file.
